Scots think small to net big role in technology

YOU don't have to peer too far to come across examples of optoelectronics. There are dozens of everyday objects that embrace the technology.

Every time you point a digital camera, a sensor chip developed as a result of this fast-growing industry helps capture your chosen image.

And if you are short-sighted, you may be able to focus on objects in the distance thanks to laser surgery, brought about because of advances in optoelectronics.

Even the transition from vinyl records to CDs and DVDs was helped by the intricate laser technology used in the players.

Optoelectronics is best described as the "generation and management of light", according to Chris Gracie, chief executive of the Scottish Optoelectronics Association (SOA).

Its application can be seen in other everyday household products such as flat panel televisions and the camera attachments in the latest generation of mobile phones.

Mr Gracie believes the market will continue to develop over the coming years.

"Where semi-conductors were the technology of the second half of the 20th century, optoelectronics is the technology of the 21st," he notes.

Scotland is leading the world in areas like microdisplays through companies such as Edinburgh-based MicroEmissive Displays - credited in the Guinness Book of Records with producing the world's smallest television screen - just a few millimetres square.

And when it comes to training young people, Scotland's universities are leading the way in the UK, accounting for half of all optoelectronic graduates. In terms of academic papers published per capita, Scotland ranks seventh in the world.

According to Mr Gracie, many people still associate optoelectronics with the telecoms crash, but he points out that telecoms makes up only around ten per cent of the industry.

"Display is the major sector, representing about 50 per cent of optoelectronics," he says. "Individuals buying big TVs to hang on a living-room wall, for example, have made them into key consumer products.

"Other items including laptops, desktop computers, the majority of which will have flat screens in the future, sensors for cameras and lasers will also increase their market share."

So why has Scotland become so involved in optoelectronics?

Mr Gracie argues it is because the country was one of the first to recognise its potential. He says: "The SOA is one of the oldest associations in the world, behind only Japan and the United States."

Of the 13 universities based north of the Border, 12 have at least one department carrying out research into optoelectronics.

Since the mid-1990s, when Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Executive set up programmes to commercialise research in universities, new companies in the optoelectronics industry have been some of the real success stories.

"The number of new companies has been running at about five a year since then," says Mr Gracie. "There was a dip in 2000, although the position is now recovering.

"Many of these companies have managed to survive, although not necessarily in the same format as when they were established.

"Because of the telecoms boom, many new companies followed what they perceived as the market to be in - the need for optical communications. Some have disappeared.

"But Intense, for example, is now a Glasgow-based optoelectronics solutions provider in the printing and defence markets, having diversified from telecoms.

"These companies have not been insulated from market forces, but they have responded to changing circumstances."

GEC Marconi Avionics, for example - formed from the Scottish-based defence operation of Ferranti and Marconi Space and Defence - has an international reputation in laser targeting and guidance systems and is building on this reputation to expand its commercial optoelectronics business.

And it is not just long-established names that are thriving. The Scottish optoelectronics manufacturing sector is home to a growing number of new specialist firms, many of them established to take technical innovations made by university researchers into commercial production.

Scottish universities have also established companies in partnership with UK and overseas corporate investors.

Edinburgh Instruments was set up in 1971 to exploit optoelectronics research at Heriot-Watt University. The company manufactures infra-red carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide lasers, diode pumped lasers and computer-automated luminescence spectrometers.

Meanwhile, STMicroelectronics specialises in electronic vision. Building on innovative technology developed at the University of Edinburgh, the company is involved in the commercial development of a miniaturised video camera. According to Mr Gracie, the firm now has 20 per cent of the world market in camera chips.

Scottish universities have pooled their research skills and technical capabilities to form a powerful force in optoelectronics.

The Scottish Collaborative Initiative in Optoelectronic Sciences (SCIOS) involves four institutions in a programme of research in new technologies and devices for optical information processing.

There continues to be a steady stream of projects coming out of Scottish universities, including the Ultra Fast Communications project at St Andrews, which will allow the internet to operate "about a million times faster than today", claims Mr Gracie.

Researchers at Scottish universities have been responsible for an impressive number of scientific breakthroughs and important commercial developments. For example, Dundee University carried out pioneering work on amorphous silicon resulting in its use in a number of important optoelectronics applications, including flat panel displays and photocopier drums.

With increased attention turning to emerging economies, China is seen as another potential competitor to Scotland, although Mr Gracie concedes that, initially, the world's fastest-growing economy will be seen as a volume manufacturer rather than a developer of new initiatives.

"With four million graduates a year, we cannot assume it will be just manufacturing," he says.

The great and the good of the optoelectronics industry are meeting in Scotland for a series of conferences and exhibitions to show the public what they may be missing and how the future is expected to develop through technology.

EuroDisplay 2005 is in Edinburgh at the EICC from today until Thursday. Among those attending is a delegation from China supported through the DTI Trade and Invest Inward Mission Programme.

Coinciding with the above, is the International Coalition of Optoelectronics Industry Associations, which also takes place in the Capital towards the end of this week.

These national associations represent countries churning out 90 per cent of the world's optoelectronics products and include the United States, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the European Photonics organisation.

Completing the hat trick of events is ECOC - the European Conference on Optical Communication - which takes place at Glasgow's SECC between September 25 and 29.

The three events herald the culmination of the SOA's tenth anniversary celebrations.

With activity on the rise and all eyes focused on Scotland, it would appear the future for optoelectronics north of the Border has never looker brighter.

Put in the picture

THE optoelectronics industry is seen as one of Scotland's up-and-coming business areas, with both university research and company start-ups helping to generate interest at home and abroad.

• Twelve Scottish universities are engaged in the sector, with more than 450 world-class researchers.

Around 90 companies employ more than 4200 people.

• Each year, Scotland produces almost 200 graduates and postgraduates who have specialised in the area of optoelectronics.

• Despite having just ten per cent of the UK's population, the optoelectronics industry north of the Border attracts more than 34 per cent of the Government's optoelectronics research budget.

• The industry generates turnover of some £800 million with around 65 per cent coming from exports.

• The value of the optoelectronics industry worldwide is currently running at about £140 billion a year and growing by between ten and 15 per cent per annum.

• Scotland is already recognised as one of the most important world centres for the manufacture of both professional and consumer electronics.

It produces around 38 per cent of the European output of personal computers and 12 per cent of Europe's semiconductors.

Alistair McArthur, The Scotsman 20th Sept 2005